NaNoWriMo Day 15: Halfway Point!

On November 15, 2012 By cherylmahoneyIn NaNoWriMo5 Comments

We’re halfway through the month, and I am happy to report that I’m halfway through the 50,000 word goal too. A little ahead, actually, at 26,000 words, which means I’ll have time to go to my writing group tomorrow evening. 🙂

I may even be halfway through the novel. I’m just about finished with Part One, although since Part Two (of two total) is hazy, I don’t really know how long it will be. I had about 12,000 words going into this, so another 25-35,000 words would be a good total length. We’ll see!

I haven’t gone off on another mad writing session like Tuesday, but I did have an interesting discussion of sorts with Maggie this evening (and no, the king didn’t kill her after my last excerpt). I was writing her reaction to a pivotal scene without consciously thinking about it, and then realized I didn’t know why she was reacting the way she was. So I wound up with some good character reflection as she tries to figure out what she’s feeling too. I decided it’s not out of character after all–it’s character growth.

I don’t seem to have an excerpt to share tonight. All the scenes from the last couple of days are somehow too interlocked and I can’t find a good bit to pull out. So have a picture instead.

I obviously had nothing to do with taking this–it’s actually from Vera Wang’s Bridal Collection, all due copyright acknowledgment, etc. And I cannot imagine it as a wedding dress, but never mind that. I stumbled across this on Pinterest while looking for something completely unrelated for my job, and have become kind of obsessed in the last few days.

Because it’s Maggie. It just is.

I have it up as my desktop, at least for the duration of November. 🙂

The World Behind the Game Screen

On November 14, 2012November 14, 2012 By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, Reviews3 Comments

I headed to the movies this weekend to see Wreck-It Ralph–and it was adorable!

The premise centers around the magical question: what if all the imaginary characters really were alive? What if toys came to life when we weren’t looking, what if characters crept out of books to hang out together when the library was closed, what if the Tiki Room birds really did get up every morning and perform dozens of shows a day?

And what if the characters in arcade games were going about their lives somewhere behind the screen?

As you might guess, this is a question that has always fascinated me!

Wreck-It Ralph is an enormously fun romp through arcade games, with endearing characters and a surprisingly warm message–without getting saccharine, despite an over-abundance of sugar!

Ralph (John C. Reilly) is the villain character in Fix-It Felix Jr., whose role is to wreck the apartment building every game. After thirty years, Ralph is tired of always being treated as the villain, even when the game is turned off. In a slightly contrived plot-turn, he vows to leave his game and go win a medal, proving that he can be a hero too. The quest takes him first to Hero’s Duty, a violent shooter-game, and then into Sugar Rush, a candy-themed racing game. In Sugar Rush, he meets Vanellope, a little girl who dreams of being a racer but has been banned because she’s a “glitch,” a program error who visually shorts out when upset. Meanwhile, Fix-It Felix Jr. is in danger of being turned off without Ralph, and all is not well in Sugar Rush…and a fair amount of havoc ensues.

The concept of this is SO much fun. I love that arcade game characters can travel between each other’s games. The support group for Bad Guys is held in Pac Man, and when they’re off-duty, characters hang out in Tapper’s, a bar game. The animation is great for portraying this world, because it can change as characters go from one game to another. And there are so many gaming references in here; I’m not much of a video or arcade game player, but some things everyone can get–and I suspect the more you know, the better it is!

This has great characters as well–Ralph is likable as a “Bad Guy who’s not a bad guy,” who’s been trapped in his role all his life. Vanellope (voiced by Sarah Silverman) walks a very fine line, somehow being annoying yet ultimately sympathetic too. And I loved Calhoun, the tough-as-nails, single-minded female soldier from Hero’s Duty. She’s voiced by Jane Lynch, who you might recognize as Sue from Glee. I think all three characters are sympathetic in part because you come to realize they’re not nearly as hard or as tough as they want to act. And then there’s Fix-It Felix (Jack McBrayer), who is not remotely tough, but literally bounces through life (with sound effects very reminiscent of Mario), wonderfully polite and eager to please.

I have to also note King Candy, the affable yet sinister monarch of Sugar Rush. I didn’t realize until writing this review that he was voiced by Alan Tudyk, beloved of geeks for his role as Wash in Firefly. He was plainly channeling Ed Wynn (Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins)–from listening to the voice, I would have sworn it was Ed Wynn if I didn’t know he couldn’t possibly still be alive.

To give due nod to a very minor character, I love that the main human we see playing the arcade games is a girl. And she’s not just playing Sugar Rush–she’s playing Hero’s Duty too. Way to break the stereotypes!

If you can’t tell already, this is a wonderfully funny movie, from Felix’s bouncing to Ralph and Vanellope’s banter, from the ridiculous characters in Sugar Rush to the parodies of games–and sometimes life. Whenever he passes through Game Central Station between games, Ralph gets stopped for security screening and is convinced he’s being profiled.

The plot is occasionally contrived, but the humor is excellent, the characters are endearing, and ultimately it’s a wonderful story about finding yourself. You may want to bring some candy into the theater–Sugar Rush will make you want it–and you may want to plan some time for arcade games too!

Movie Site: http://disney.go.com/wreck-it-ralph/ (But be warned, the trailer is so-so.)

IMDB Profile: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772341/ (with a better trailer!)

NaNoWriMo Day 12: Page-Turner

On November 12, 2012 By cherylmahoneyIn NaNoWriMo4 Comments

I am emotionally drained tonight. I’ve been writing. It was an excellent writing evening.

Non-writers may not quite understand this, so let me make an analogy. I’m sure you all like to read (or you wouldn’t be here). You must have encountered page-turners, books you cannot put down, so you just keep turning pages and don’t do any of whatever else you had been planning to do.

Once in a very great while, I have a writing session like that. The story takes over and I can’t tear myself away from the keyboard, and as soon as I try the sentences fill my brain and I can’t think about anything else. It’s rare, but amazing when it happens. And I went on quite the page-turning writing jag tonight, hitting over 3,000 words for the day before I stopped. And I didn’t run an errand I’d planned on and I didn’t cook what I meant to for dinner…but that can happen tomorrow.

Funnily enough, up until today I’d been having a kind of second-week slump. I was keeping up with my word count, but it was mechanical. I was turning out something acceptable, but nothing exceptional, and it was an act of will to move forward.

Then tonight I hit an intense emotional scene I hadn’t even planned on until…yesterday or this morning, I forget. And away we went, me and Maggie and the story.

First I creeped myself out describing the horrible magician’s awful workroom. Then I brought the magician in and terrified Maggie and myself a bit more. If I scare the reader half as much, I have a good scene on my hands. 🙂

So it was a great writing day today. Albeit an exhausting one!

And after all that, I obviously have to give you the scene. Or at least part of it. It’s maybe a little purple prose-y in spots, but that’s what revisions are for.

Maggie has snuck into the magician’s workroom to look around and… Continue reading “NaNoWriMo Day 12: Page-Turner” →

Classic Review: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

On November 12, 2012November 12, 2012 By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, ReviewsLeave a comment

Things are a little busy around here for NaNoWriMo right now…so I’m opening up my archives and sharing another Classic Review.

Right now I have kind of a thing for fairy tales. When I was younger, though, I had a mythology thing. Some interests never quite go away, and so I’ve been enjoying Rick Riordan’s mythology-based novels immensely. I’ve read all of his Percy Jackson books and the Kane Chronicles, and can recommend them all. Today, here’s a look back at the first Percy Jackson book.

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I wish Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan had been around when I was twelve. I went through a period when I was obsessed with Greek mythology, and I think I would have LOVED these books. Or else I would have had fits over every tiny detail that was inaccurate–it could have tipped either way. But since my adult self didn’t actually notice any inaccuracies, I’m guessing my 12-year-old self would have been a big fan.

I read The Lightning Thief, the first book in the series, and while I don’t think I’m going to develop a raging obsession now, I did enjoy the book quite a bit. The basic premise is that all the characters from Greek and Roman mythology have carried on into the modern world, still essentially doing what they’ve always done. One of the things they’ve always done is to have children with mortals, which means there are still a lot of half-god children running around. Percy Jackson finds out his absentee father is actually the water god Poseidon, just in time to get tangled up in a quest for Zeus’ stolen lightning bolt. Its theft is perilously close to bringing on a war between the gods that could destroy the world as we know it.

I love the concept of these books. I love the Greek gods brought into the modern day, and I’d really love to see more of how they’re fitting in with modernity. Hermes has sneakers with wings and Ares rides a really tough motorcycle, for example. I think it would be fantastic to find out, say, that Apollo (god of music) is completely obsessed with iTunes and thinks Rock Band is pretty awesome, or that Aphrodite (goddess of love) is actually running eHarmony. How fun would that be?

Percy is good as a character; I can’t say he made a huge impression on me. Maybe there’s too many slightly-screw-up characters who find themselves as heroes. I’m not criticizing him as a character…but the one who I feel fonder towards is Grover, his satyr (half-goat) friend. I think he’s more unique, as an environmentally-conscious satyr who really likes food, especially burritos and aluminum cans. I also rather cherish the mental image of Grover careening through the air wearing Hermes’ out-of-control sneakers.

One criticism I do have of the book is that the quest felt a bit random. Percy, Grover and their friend Annabeth set out, and along the way encounter several adventures, but they seem to just sort of bump into these adventures. I would have liked to feel that there was a reason they were encountering the villains they were meeting, or going to the places they were reaching. One caveat–I saw the movie first, and maybe I’m not the only one who felt this, because in the movie they definitely did have certain places to go and then set about going there. This in turn may be why I felt particularly that they were a little aimless when I then read the book.

I actually haven’t heard Percy Jackson referred to as the next Harry Potter, the way everyone kept saying when Twilight became popular, even though it’s certainly closer in terms of themes and target audience. I also think all three series have something in common, which may be a clue to why all three are popular. It’s something Cleolinda Jones zeroed in on with her Twilight analysis, and that’s this element of suddenly finding your place.

You know you’ve been out of place and unpopular and kind of a screw-up your whole life? That’s okay, you’re not really unworthy, you’re special! And now you’re being transported to a new place where everyone realizes that what seemed like flaws are really gifts, and now you’re going to make new friends and be good at things and succeed like never before. In some ways, Percy Jackson is even more transparent about this than Harry or Twilight (or Cinderella, for that matter). Percy’s dyslexia is because his brain is wired for ancient Greek, and his ADD is to help him stay alive in battle. When he goes to Camp Half-Blood, the training place for half-gods, he doesn’t become immediately popular (neither does Harry at Hogwarts, although Bella does in Forks), but he does become the prodigy of Chiron (trainer of Hercules, among others), and altogether begins to fit in. And while I may poke at the idea a little bit as being a formula…it’s one that works very, very well.

A knowledge of Greek mythology would be helpful here, but I doubt it’s essential. But you do need an interest, because by the time you’re done, you’ll have at least a little knowledge. The Lightning Thief is a fun book and an exciting one, even if I don’t love it the way I might have at twelve!

Author’s site: http://www.percyjacksonbooks.com/